Who does the Internet benefit?

Hi

Its an interesting question.

the technology of the internet has been in development since the early 80's but it was not until the early '90's that it began to be workable as a world wide network.

No 'one' person or entity 'owns' or 'controls' the internet if that is what you are driving at. The internet is a massive network of computers with no one 'source' of ownership or control.

having established this, in answer to your question, I think it benefits anyone who is able to make some form of productive use of it. As to 'how' it benefits its users, I think you would find the answers to that question as diverse as the uses that people derive from their participation within it.

a common misconception about 'the internet' is that it is what you see on your web-browser. In actual fact, the www is only a component of what the 'net' actually is. the internet is, in fact, capable of a lot more than simply web services and you have to include things like email, ftp, peer to peer, voip, etc.

For more information, there is an Excellent wiki article on 'the internet', and there is some interesting thinking on the social implications of web 2.0 (google: what is web 2.0)